Overturning cage



- July 7', 1925.

D.F.LEPLEY I QVERTURNING CAGE Filed Oct. 22, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet i July7, 1925. I 1,544,998

, I D- F. LEPLEY OYERTI-JRNINQ CAGE Fil'ed Oct, 1921 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 4I l I I I I I I I I I r I l I I I I I I I I I I I I Patented July 7,192,5

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DANIEL terms, 'os' qoivNiiLtsi/itts, PE'iINSYLVANIA.

Application fired. fict'ber 22,1921; semi No; 509,651.

ToaZZ 107K077?) it may concern: 7

Be'it known that LDANIEL F. LEILEY,- a citizenof the United States,residing at Coniiellsville, in the" county 'of'fiayette and 5' State OfPenns lvania, have inventede new in operatihg tin overturiiing eage orplti'tform in high speed hoists because 'of-tfhe poundingthz it hasusually resulted from the abrupt or nearly 'ebiup't actuation ofstlieoverturniilglparts. I

It is object of the present invention to provide a cage orhoist of theoverturii i'i'i'g platform type with a'iheens for ihverting the saidplatform at aspeed which increases as the' cage or skip approaches thepoiiit of discharge or delivery.

Another object is to'provide mechanism which will start the tilting oroverturning oi" the 'plzttforni at a comparatively low speed, s'iidspeedincreasing rapidly, the ac tioii being such as to elinihieteallpounding which would otherwise be iiijhrious to the ineeheiiisin. is j Afurther object is to provide a "skip or in which the overturning portionis substantially balanced when subjected to a, loitl, the stabilitybeing maintained by the use of a latchiiig' ine'cliztnisin ad'aptedto bereleased automatically;immediately fnibifto the overturning gic'tioiij IV; b

A further" objectis to {provide s cjsg'eeiskip the" overturning"p'ortibii of which" is bale-need so'that the inertia load is-reduced tothejn'iiniinuin' and is negotiated very slowly, no part of the operatingiiie'ztns'being required to leave or jump zi'c'rossztg ap iii thestructure cooperating tliereivit-h either while completing theiioriiial-hoist disteiiice or travelling" as the result 0i iioveiivin'tl'; thereby avoiding the tremendous liziiiinie i ng fivhich isso destructive to other types of high speed hoists.

With the f regoingand other objects iii vie'iviivhic'h vvill 'appjear asthe desoiiptioii proceeds; the inventieii resides in the c'oinbi elationand arrangement or parts and the details of construction hereii 'aifterdescribed ans claimed, itbeing iiiider'stood' tli'it, Within the scopeof b What is cleiihed; changes in the precise emboaiiiient oftee-invention shown can he made Without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In" the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention" hasbeen shown.

. In saiddrawings- Figure I is 2i side elevation of a ship of thecombination PlZLtfOfliIdllCl hopper type, the present improvements beingcombined therewith.- v

Figure 2 is a; front elevation.

Figure 3 is'fa vertical traIisver se section througli zi portionOLE-one. side of the tiltable' platforn'i' and adjzicent parts;

"Figure" 4 is" a section on line 44,' Figure 3. b

Figure 5 is a section oii line ure 4:.

"Figure-'6 is an enlarged side elevation of p'bft'ion of the ,tiltableplatform; it's giidgeoii being hown in section. I

Referring" to the-figures by characters of referent-e designates theframe of the skip or c'zigeadiipted to travel 'on the guide railsiii-amine shaft, this frame being provided with the usiial or any prefered hoist mech anism s portiond-f which has been indicated generally at21 Tothein'ner surface'of each sideoi the frame" l 'i's attached a. yoke3 win-c111 isiiitegrall' With a plate 4- riveted or otherwisefesteiied'to the frame 1. This yeke'has pa-rellelside's as shown inFigure i and is-openat the'top, the sides and hotto'm oft'h'eyok e beingformed in their inner faces with acon'tinuous groove 6. l urth'ermore-essli'o'Wn iii"Fig'ure-3 the sides ofth'e yoke "are taperedupwerdly,*thistaper be? is v rsely of thew flie -sbove tliebottom thereof antlcohstitut'es a" ie'teining'means as will I be desribe'd"hereihztfter. v

In the type of ship illustrated there is provided a platform structure 9having iiietzil'side' Wills 10w sash of which is seadapted wrestw-ithinthe' ieevear These III parts are assembled by inserting thegudgeons 1.6 downwardly within the yokes 3 so that the flanges 17 willslide downwardly in the grooves 6 until seated on the bottom of theyokes. The bolts 8 are then inserted so as to engage the tops of thegudgeons and prevent the parts from becoming separated. Secured to theplate 11 so as to extend partly around the gudgeon 16 is an arcuate rack18 eccentrically disposed relative to the gudgeon and having its'lowerend below and close to the gudgeon while its upper end is above and atsome distance from the gudgeon.

The gudgeons 16 are so located that the platform is substantiallybalanced thereby, the entire load on the platform being likewisebalanced so that the inertia necessary to be overcome in order to tiltthe platform and its load is negligible. For the purpose of actuatingthe platform so as to tilt it there is provided an operating meansincluding levers 19 fulcrumed on brackets 20 and extending upwardly fromsegmental eccentric gears 21 which mesh with the respective racks 18.Mounted on the upper ends of the levers 19 are wheels 22 connected by across rod or shaft 23and a latch 24 is adapted to engage this shaft soas to hold the gear 21 against movement relative to the frame 1 whilethe skip is in operation below the point of discharge. An operatinglever 25 slidably and pivotally engages the latch 24 and has a wheel 26designed to ride within a cam track 27 so as to disengage the latch 24-from the shaft 23 when the skip approaches the point of de livery. Thislatch and the mechanism employed for operating it constitutes in itselfno part of the present invention but already forms the subject matter ofPatent No. 1,363,985 issued to me on Dec. 28, 1920.

Fixedly mounted within the mine shaft adjacent the point where the loadis to be delivered, there. are provided cam tracks 28 the lower ends ofwhich are flared so that, as the skip approaches the upper limit of itsmovement the wheels 22 will be free to enter between the rails of thetracks 28. During this operation the wheel 26 will enter the cam track27 and be shifted so as to disengage the latch 24- from the shaft 28.The cam tracks 28 provide a means for imparting a gradual swingingmovement to the levers 19 as the skip travels upwardly and this movementwill be such as to cause the cam gears 21 to actuate the racks 18. Itwill be noted that the racks and gears are so shaped and proportionedthat a gradually increasing leverage will be exerted upon the rack 18and the speed of rotation of the rack will be proportionately increased.Thus the platform 9 will be given the de sired tilting or overturningaction without being subjected to an abrupt start but will,

on the contrary, be started gradually in its tilting action, the speedof tilting increasing gradually and being so timed that the maximumtilting movement will be attained when the skip is at the proper pointof delivery.

Obviously with a structure such as described the objectionable poundingor hammering that has thus far been present due to the abrupt contact ofoperating parts is entirely eliminated even though the skip travels at ahigh speed and, therefore, the life of the mechanism is greatlyprolonged.

Although the overturning mechanism has been illustrated in connectionwith a skip having a tilting platform, a hopper, and a chuteextendingfrom the hopper it is to be understood that the improvementsare not restricted necessarily to a skip of this type. .Vhere such askip is used, however, the cam track 28 can be employed not only foroperating the mechanism to tilt the platform 9 but can also be used foractuating a bell crank lever 29 employed for swinging the pivoted chuteor gate mounted on the outlet portion 31 extending from the bottom ofthe hopper 32. This mechanism does not constitute any part of thepresent invention but has already been disclosed in Patent No. 1,304,?841 issued to me on May 27 1919.

WVhat is claimed is 1. The combination with a movable skip frame, of aconstantly balanced load supporting structure, and cooperating fixed andmovable means in the path of and on the skip frame respectively forgradually overcoming the inertia of the load supporting structure androtating it relative to the skip frame, the velocity of rotationincreasing progressively as the skip frame moves toward its terminal.

2. The combination with a movable skip frame, of a constantly balancedload supporting structure, and cooperating fixed and movable means inthe path of and on the skip frame respectively for gradually overcomingthe inertia of the supporting structure and rotating said structure,said means maintaining a practically uniform speed of rotation of theload structure during the slowing down period of said structure whileapproaching its terminal.

3. The combination with a movable skip frame, of a tiltable structure,means for locking said structure normally against tilting, stationaryactuating means, means movable with the frame for engaging saidactuating means to tilt the structure at a gradually increasing speedduring the movement of the frame, and cooperating stationary and movablemeans for automatically unlocking the tiltable structure prior to thetilting operation.

4. The combination with a movable skip frame, of a tiltable structure,an arcuate rack eccentric with theaxis of rotation of the structure, acam gear engaging the rack, and fixed means for actuating the cam gearduring the movement of the frame to tilt the structure at a graduallyincreasing speed independently of the speed of movement of the frame.

5. The combination with a movable frame, of a tiltable member carriedthereby, an arcuate rack eccentrieally disposed relative to the axis ofrotation of said member, an eccentric gear meshing withthe rack, andcooperating fixed and movable means for actuating the gear during themovement of the frame for tilting said member at a gradually increasingspeed.

6. The combination with a movable frame, of yokes secured to the sidesthereof and opening upwardly, said yokes constituting bearings, atiltable structure within the frame,

' gudgeons extending therefrom and mount ed in the yokes, and means fordetachably securing the gudgeonsagainst withdrawal through the openupper ends of the yokes.

7. The combination with a movable skip frame, of yokes secured to'thesides thereof and opening upwardly, said yokes having grooves in theinner faces of the sides and bottoms thereof, a tiltable structure,gudgeons extending therefrom and insertible downwardly into the yokes tobe supported thereby, and flanges on the gudgeons for insertion into thegrooves thereby to hold the gudgeons against longitudinal withdrawalfrom the yokes.

8. The combination with a movable skip frame, of yokes secured to thesides thereof and opening upwardly, said yokes having grooves in theinner faces of the sides and bottoms thereof, a tiltable structure,gudgeons extending therefrom and insertible downwardly into the yokes tobe supported thereby,

and flanges on the gudgeons for insertion into the grooves thereby tohold the gudgeons against longitudinal withdrawal from the yokes, andmeans extending transversely of the yokes and above the gudgeons forholding said gudgeons against upward withdrawal from the yokes,

9. The combination with a movable skip frame and a constantly balancedload supporting structure carried thereby, of motion transmitting meansupon and movable relative to the frame, fixed means for engagement bysaid movable means to actuate the same through a gradually increasingarea during the movement of the frame toward its terminal, and means onthe load supporting structure and cooperating with the mo tiontransmitting means for maintaining the velocity of rotation of said loadsupporting means practically uniform during the slowing down period ofsaid structure while approaching its terminal.

10. The combination with a movable skip frame and a constantly balancedload supporting structure carried thereby, of motion transmitting meansmovably mounted on the frame, fixed means for engagement by said movablemeans for gradually increasing the shift thereof during the movement ofthe frame toward its terminal, and means on the load supportingstructure and cooperation with the motion transmitting means formaintaining the velocity of said load supporting means practicallyuniform during the slowing down period of said structure whileapproaching its terminal.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL F. LEPLEY.

Witnesses HERBERT D. LAWSON,

G. M. DAVIDSON.

